Project Drive-In hopes to stave off extinction of theaters

Voting extended through Sept. 21 for contest to help Pittsburgh-area drive-ins get digital projection systems

UPDATED 6:43 PM EDT Sep 15, 2013

MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. -

In their heyday, there were more than 5,000 drive-in movie theaters in the country. Today there are fewer than 400, and those that are left are seriously threatened because of new technology.

“I went to the Greater Pittsburgh one all the time and, you know, I just always had a great experience,” said Jimmy Mastroianni of Level Green. “Kind of reminds you of a much more simpler time."

The Evergreen Drive-In was built in the 1940s and is owned by the Warren family. "They're great family fun,” said Joe Warren. "It's one of the few places that families can actually sit together and interact together without other distractions -- say, like the Internet, or running from a television to another room. They’re kind of all together in the same place enjoying themselves.”

“It’s something fun to do with your family in the summer outside, something different,” said Katie Caruso, of Penn Township.

But the drive-ins you see now might not be showing movies this time next year.

“The film industry is phasing out 35 mm film worldwide, and we have to try to make the conversion by 2014 to digital projection so we can stay in business,” Warren said.

The Evergreen has three screens. The upgrade to digital projection would cost the Warrens $75,000 per screen.

The Evergreen wants help from the public to win Project Drive-In, a contest sponsored by Honda. The car company will give digital projection systems to five drive-ins across the country. People can vote once a day at projectdrivein.com until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 21.

“Drive-ins, I predict they’ll be around for quite a long time,” Warren said. “There’s more of a public interest now than ever before. The less there are, the more valuable they are to a community to have one,” Warren said.

The Warrens said people don’t have to go to their drive-in; just go to any drive-in. The more people who go, the better.

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